Ottolenghi Comfort cook book recipe for Jerk chicken

This blend of nurture, convenience, nostalgia and indulgence is universal, but the dishes that hit these proverbial spots are deeply personal, rooted in family memories, and often culturally specific.

Mac 'n' cheese, chicken ramen, sausages and mash, chicken noodle soup, lentils and rice, and dumplings are all listed as "definitive comfort foods".

Chicken with Steph's spice is one of the recipes in Comfort published by Ebury Press (Image: Jonathan Lovekin)

In Comfort (Ebury Press £30) Ottolenghi and co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lockmuller and Tara Wigley are not trying to offer an exhaustive list or a comfort food to fit all, rather they stick to "ground that we've trodden ourselves."

That ground takes in Ottolenghi's Italian and German parental heritage, Jerusalem where he grew up, and Amsterdam then London where he settled.

Goh's encompasses China, Malaysia, Melbourne and London, Lockmuller's Germany, Scotland and New York, while Tara is a Londoner with a passion for Levantine food.

Their mix of preserving the culture and cuisine of their past while embracing a new one can be found in the pancakes, soups, dips, fritters, roasts, traybakes, stews, noodles, curries, pasta, pies and desserts in the book.

Helen and Yotam eating steamed aubergine turmeric fish (Image: Jonathan Lovekin)

In their introduction these 'four hungries' say comfort food is about "the combination of the right food, right time and right place."

"What makes food comforting can be about where and how we eat, why we eat and who we eat with as much as what we're eating. Something to think about as you choose the recipes to try out. We hope they bring you comfort in whatever form that comfort may come."

Ottolenghi adds: "This book is full of dishes which feel familiar yet fresh. It is also very much about our personal journeys, and all the stories these journeys contain. Food and words have an incredible power to connect. Our hope is that these recipes become for you what they are for us: reassuring on the one hand and eye-opening on the other."

Chicken with Steph’s spice (serves 4 with rice and salad)

Steph was a Jamaican chef Helen worked with many years ago in Melbourne. A lot of time has passed since the recipe for Steph’s roasted jerk-spiced meats was handed on – passed around the kitchen, scribbled down on a scrap of paper – but it’s been with Helen ever since.

We served the chicken with a simple slaw made with half a small cabbage and a quarter of a pineapple, both thinly sliced, some  freshly flaked coconut, sliced jalapeño, spring onion, coriander and mint.

It’s dressed with olive oil, lime juice and maple syrup. 

1 tsp whole allspice berries 
(aka pimento)
2 bay leaves, roughly torn
1½ tsp hot chilli powder
1½ tsp paprika
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice (the sweet one, 
like pumpkin spice)
25g light soft brown sugar
1½ tbsp runny honey
1–2 green jalapeño chillies, finely 
chopped
1–2 red Scotch bonnet (habanero) 
chillies, finely chopped
1 small red onion, cut into 1cm 
dice (100g)
2 spring onions, finely 
chopped (30g)
50ml olive oil
1kg chicken thighs, bone in, skin on 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Salt

Put the allspice and bay leaves into a dry pan and toast for  1–2 minutes, until the bay leaves have blistered. Using a pestle and mortar, crush to a powder, then tip into a large bowl along with the remaining ingredients apart from the chicken and vinegar.

Add 1 teaspoon of salt, mix well to combine, then add the chicken. Massage well, so that all the thighs are coated, then keep in the fridge, covered, for at least 6 hours (or overnight).

Half an hour before you are going to cook the chicken, take it out of the fridge, add the vinegar and toss to combine.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

Spread the chicken out on a large parchment-lined baking tray, skin side up. Bake for about 45 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through, until crisp and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Egg sambal 'shakshuka' (Image: Jonathan Lovekin)

Egg sambal ‘shakshuka’ (serves 4)

Growing up in Malaysia, nasi lemak was something Helen ate a lot of. Wrapped in banana leaves and day-old newspaper, the little packs of coconut rice, spicy sambal, egg and cucumber are sold on nearly every street corner.

While this recipe is very much not nasi lemak, it is nevertheless inspired by it. The egg and tomato sauce mingling  in the pan reminds us, at the same time, of the Middle Eastern shakshuka which Yotam grew up eating.

Serve with rice or bread

1½ tsp fennel seeds

2 whole cloves

seeds from 2 cardamom pods

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1½ tbsp medium curry powder 60ml olive oil

½ tsp black mustard seeds

20 curry leaves

1 red onion, halved and thinly

sliced (160g)

10g ginger, peeled and finely

grated

5 garlic cloves, crushed

10g coriander, stalks finely

chopped and leaves to serve 150g datterini (or cherry) tomatoes 2 tsp sambal oelek

1 x 400g tin of crushed tomatoes 100ml tamarind concentrate 300ml water

15g palm (or light soft brown) sugar 5 eggs

salt and black pepper

Put the fennel seeds, cloves and cardamom seeds into a small dry frying pan and place on a medium-low heat. Toast lightly for about  2 minutes, until fragrant, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar. Add the cinnamon and curry powder and set aside.

Put 3 tablespoons of the oil into a large sauté pan (for which you have a lid) – about 26cm wide – and place on a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and 10 curry leaves and cook for 1 minute, until the seeds begin to pop.

Add the onion and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are starting to colour. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander stalks and fresh tomatoes, cook for another 5 minutes, then add the fennel spice mix.

Cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant, then add the sambal oelek, tinned tomatoes, tamarind, water, sugar and  1¼ teaspoons of salt. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20–25 minutes, uncovered, until thickened.

Crack the eggs into the sambal and sprinkle a little salt and pepper over each egg. Cover the pan and cook for 7–8 minutes, until the egg whites are fully cooked and the yolks are soft.

Meanwhile, put the remaining tablespoon of oil into a small pan and place on a medium heat. Add the rest of the curry leaves, cook for about a minute, until very fragrant, then remove from the heat. When the eggs are ready, drizzle the oil and fried curry leaves over  the eggs, scatter over the coriander leaves, and serve.

Extracted from Ottolenghi COMFORT by Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley (Ebury Press, £30).